Whether you’re currently battling a small nagging knee injury or you just want to keep your knees pain free here are 3 tools you can use to maximize knee health.
Mobilize the ankles: Your body is essentially a chain of joints. It is a combination of mobile joints and stable joints. The ankle is designed to be a mobile joint while the knee is designed to be a stable joint. If the ankle is restricted or doesn’t have the mobility that it needs, force and stress is then passed up the “chain” to the knee. Your knee now has to do 2 jobs. Try and absorb the force and stress from the ankles’s lack of mobility as well as its default job of providing stability for your leg. This can contribute to various types of pain from minor irritation and inflammation all the way up to chronic tendon pain. Almost everyone could benefit from a little more ankle mobility and here's a great video by Dr. Aaron Horschig from Squat University. He shows how to troubleshoot your ankle mobility and gives you a few exercises you can use to address any issues.
Strengthen your glutes and hamstrings: Stronger glutes and hamstrings allow the knee and hip to have more support. Often times these muscles are weak or down regulated (yes even if you’re hitting the gym regularly). When this happens the muscles and connective tissues around the knee have to work very hard to provide adequate stability and support for the joint. By strengthening the glutes and hamstrings, the muscles and connective tissues around the knee don’t have to work as hard and they can relax often alleviating the pain. The stability and support needed for proper knee health is provided by the glutes and hamstrings. It also allows the knee to track properly when taking a step, doing a squat, or performing a lunge. How can you strengthen your glutes and hamstrings? Here are a few ideas:
High Hip Bucks https://youtu.be/alKt_8u91X8?si=0mOLPuSFbJ7gBotU
Lateral Band Walk (band around your feet) https://youtu.be/SimWkWCBPOs?si=Z2p683at9JRYRlsQ
Band Prone Hamstring Curl https://youtu.be/LtTcXXgeRYo?si=t2UTuwubROA4Tc_3
Incorporate Unilateral Exercises: Basically perform exercises on one leg. After completing the designated number of reps for one leg, move over to the other one and that will be one set. Why is this so beneficial? It serves 2 purposes. One, it can help to build balance and stability. Two, it can identify major strength imbalances that you may not even be aware of. Very often when we perform exercises on both legs (bilateral), we will dominate the exercise with our strong leg and not even know we’re doing it. Single leg training (unilateral training) addresses this. These are some examples:
Single Leg High Hip Bucks https://youtu.be/yG1TDz0TeQ4?si=EiFyVTDJPVhdrdIE
Bulgarian Split Squat https://youtu.be/kBQ1krvKFBU?si=OW4wJB2R5J5FjaUs
How do I put all of this together? The exercises above are a great way to warm up for any lower body training, before you go for a run, or before a bike ride. You can also add them in as a filler exercise between sets of your main exercises if you want. Regardless of where or how you put them into your routine just make sure they're getting done. Your knees will thank you.
DISCLAIMER: The preceeding is not medical advice and should not be taken as such. Please consult an orthopedic or a physical therapist for an exact diagnosis of your particular problem.
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